West Virginia
Speed and Power Hoist West Virginia 5-2 Over No. 3 Oklahoma State
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two West Virginia Mountaineer residence runs. A single season particular person stolen base document. A single season workforce stolen base document. A win over the No. 3 Oklahoma State Cowboys at residence in entrance of a sold-out crowd.
This sport made up for any trepidation Mountaineer followers had after final night time’s 2-1 loss.
On each side of tonight’s match-up, a drizzly, chilly night time turned blazing scorching when the Mountaineer and Cowboy bats bought going. Oklahoma State right-handed starter Victor Mederos ran via your entire Mountaineer lineup in two innings, however not earlier than sophomore Nathan Blasick shot the second pitch of his at-bat 417 toes over the middle discipline wall. Blasick, tonight’s DH, bought the beginning over Dayne Leonard and made probably the most of his two-out alternative for the primary residence run of his 2022 marketing campaign.
The Mountaineer bats struck first, and the West Virginia protection, lead by sophomore southpaw Ben Hampton, shut the Cowboys down in 4 batters within the first inning and 1-2-3 style within the second and third. West Virginia (21-11, 5-2) held Oklahoma State (25-9, 8-2) scoreless till the fourth inning; Hampton allowed grad scholar Griffin Doersching a stroll with two outs, and the designated hitter promptly superior on a wild pitch. An RBI single from first baseman David Mendham introduced him residence, however Hampton stranded Mendham at third and closed the inning with a cleanly-fielded groundout that popped again his approach.
The Cowboys rallied once more within the high of the fifth, courtesy of a batter hit, a double, and a fielder’s alternative. The latter of which got here from grad scholar Jake Thompson and scored junior Hueston Morrill for Oklahoma State’s remaining run.
By the point the Cowboys bought two runs on the board within the fifth, West Virginia had already piled on what would ultimately grow to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
West Virginia’s sophomore catcher McGwire Holbrook made up for final night time’s base operating blunder in each the third and seventh innings, totaling 4 RBIs. Within the third, a 2RBI moon shot sailed 407 toes over the left discipline wall. Freshman JJ Wetherholt, at second base off a single and a steal, got here residence with the run.
“I imply, I wasn’t actually in search of something,” Holbrook mentioned. “I used to be seeing his slider and his fastball each fairly good, and he threw me a fastball up, and I’m often fairly good at hitting fastballs up within the zone, so I noticed it out of his hand and simply drove it.”
He struck once more within the backside of the fifth inning, off Cowboy right-handed reliever Bayden Root. Senior Austin Davis doubled into heart discipline and junior Victor Scott walked to put two runners on the bottom path. Throughout Holbrook’s at-bat, Scott and Davis staged a double steal of second and third, respectively. When Holbrook bought his bat on the ball, he grounded out to Root, and Davis scored to up the Mountaineer result in 4-2.
Holbrook got here again out within the seventh and knocked one other run in. Redshirt junior Tevin Tucker had walked and stolen second to steer off the inning. A sac fly introduced the speedy shortstop residence for the Mountaineers’ remaining run, 5-2.
Amazingly, 5 runs on seven hits and beating No. 3 Oklahoma State weren’t even probably the most noteworthy occasions of tonight’s Mountaineer displaying.
Seconds after Holbrook’s seventh inning RBI, Scott took off towards second and made historical past. His thirtieth stolen base of the season claimed the person document from Mickey Mamarella’s 29, accomplished in 1986. With the stolen base, this WVU roster additionally re-set the workforce stolen base document, additionally from 1986, of 114. Scott’s stolen base marked the Mountaineers’ one hundred and fifteenth swiped bag of 2022.
“I like watching these guys run,” WVU head coach Randy Mazey mentioned of Scott and Davis. “I like watching them. They’re dynamic gamers and I’d love nothing greater than for each of these guys to interrupt (Mazey’s stolen base) document after which chase one another’s data.”
Hampton (5.1IP-4H-2R-5K) earned the win (6-2) after permitting the pair of Oklahoma State runs on 5 hits; Trey Braithwaite earned the save after two innings, successful and a strikeout. Oklahoma State’s Mederos logged his second loss (3-2) and the Cowboys broke a four-game successful streak. With the 5-2 victory, the Mountaineers transfer to 22-11 (6-2) and drive an Easter rubber match, set for tomorrow at 1 p.m.
West Virginia
KenPom predicts how West Virginia will fare in Big 12 play
KenPom predicts how West Virginia will fare in Big 12 play
West Virginia has closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule and is now onto Big 12 play.
KenPomery, an advanced statistical website for college basketball, uses efficiency to measure how good a team is. KenPom also predicts how the Mountaineers will do in Big 12 play and the percentage chance they give WVU to win each game.
Overall, KenPom projects West Virginia to go 9-11 in conference play, having them finish the regular season with an 18-13 record. They also give WVU at least a 40 percent chance to win 12 of their 20 games against Big 12 opponents.
December/January
The first month of conference play shapes up to be the hardest for the Mountaineers. Out of the 11 losses KenPom projects, five of them come in the first month of conference play. Two games against Houston, a trip to Kansas, and a home date against Iowa State make the first month of the year very challenging.
There are plenty of close games as KenPom gives WVU a 51 percent chance to beat Arizona at home, a 48 percent chance to beat Colorado on the road, and then a 54 percent chance to beat Kansas State on the road.
In WVU’s four projected wins, their average margin of victory is 4.3 points. In their five projected losses, the average margin of defeat is 6.6 points.
February
In February, West Virginia has eight games, and KenPom projects the Mountaineers going 4-4 during the month.
Their wins include home dates against Utah, BYU, Cincinnati, and TCU. All their projected losses that month come on the road.
The average margin of victory in the month is 4.8 points, while the average margin of defeat is 6.5 points. During February, West Virginia has a three-game stretch, which includes a road game against Baylor (ranked 18th by KenPom), a home date against Cincinnati (ranked 21st), and then a trip back to Texas to face Texas Tech (ranked 13th). This also all comes in a week, spanning from Feb. 15-22.
March
The month of March is a quick three-game stretch before the Big 12 Tournament begins. However, two of the games take place in the state of Utah, as WVU faces BYU and Utah, both on the road.
The Mountaineers are projected to lose both games, with an average margin of defeat of 3.5 points. Their win over UCF, they’re projected to win by eight points.
Overall
Out of WVU’s 10 home games, they are projected to go 8-2, with the losses coming to Iowa State (ranked fifth) and Houston (ranked fourth).
Out of WVU’s 10 away games, they are projected to go 1-9, with the lone win coming on the road against Kansas State (ranked 90th).
All Big 12 teams are ranked 104th or better, and out of the 16 teams, 14 are ranked inside the top 76. Nine teams are ranked inside the top 48, and WVU’s current ranking of 48th by KenPom is ranked ninth in the league.
The Big 12’s overall rating is +17.19, according to KenPom. That ranks third out of all conferences as the SEC (+20.10) is first, and the Big Ten (+17.39) is second.
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West Virginia
Transfer WR Henry in contact with West Virginia
Western Illinois wide receiver Matthew Henry has been in contact with West Virginia and is working on setting up an official visit to Morgantown.
Henry, 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, is coming off a season with the Leathernecks where he hauled in 64 passes for 1,211 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He previously spent two years at DII Livingston where he was productive with 66 catches for 840 yards over two seasons.
West Virginia
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